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Some Viewing Education

October 5th, 2009 No comments

For those who still don’t know what this Credit Crisis is all about, here’s a really great visual treat from Jonathan Jarvis that simplifies the whole deal …

The Crisis of Credit Visualized

And then we have Steve Forbes from September last year with a reminder about the importance of a strong USD and what, in my opinion, is the only way to get the U.S. back to greatness; Value Adding and Innovation …

So now that you know the crux of the problem, this is where we are, one year later …

Neil Barofsky, TARP Special Inspector General, sees a “Far More Dangerous” Financial Situation

And to add insult to the taxpayer’s injury, many of whom are without homes, jobs and any semblance of a future, guess how much the bailed-out banks paid themselves in bonuses from these taxpayer’s monies?

BONY-Mellon received $3 billion in TARP money. Earnings last year were $1.4 billion. The bank’s top five execs declined bonuses last year. Bonus Pool: $945M.

Wells Fargo (WFC) took on $25 billion in TARP funds. Losses last year, including Wachovia losses, were $42.9 billion. (It’s worth noting that the senior execs at Wells Fargo didn’t take bonuses last year). Bonus Pool: $977M

Morgan Stanley (MS) got $10 billion TARP infusion and actually showed earnings of $1.70 billion last year. Bonus Pool: $4.47B

$10 billion in TARP money went to Goldman Sachs (GS) last year. The bank was still profitable, and managed to turn in earnings of $2.3 billion in 2008. Bonus Pool: $4.82B

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) got $25 billion from the TARP program, and earned $5.6 billion in 2008. 29 employees got bonuses of $8 million or more. Bonus Pool: $8.69B

After it was bought by Bank of America, Merill Lynch received $10 billion in TARP funds. (The money was drawn down by BofA in January). Still, Merrill managed net losses of $27.6 billion in 2008. Bonus Pool: $3.6B

BofA (BAC) got a whopping $45 billion in TARP funds. 2008 earnings came in at $4 billion. The top four execs at BofA got a combined $64 million last year. Bonus Pool: $3.3B

Citi (C) got $45 billion in government funds. Losses amounted to a staggering $27.7 billion last year. 13 individuals at Citi received bonuses of $8 million or more. Bonus Pool: $5.33B

  • Too big to fail, huh. For whom? What happened to you, America? What is your American Dream worth when it is realized at the expense of your own kind? And now you want to take the rest of the world down with your greed. By your greed, the world is not enough.
  • I will crusade to make sure that Singapore doesn’t end up (down) that greedy street. Personally, if they had given the US$11 trillion of stimulus and bail-out money to every man, woman and child amongst America’s 300 million population, that would have put US$36,666.00 into their pockets a year ago and that would have been money better spent. At least the money would REALLY be going back into the economy … the part of the economy that really needs a bail out.

    Just look at what they’re doing to themselves:
    Income Inequality Widens, Poor Take Big Hit During Recession

    Now check out Marc Faber’s terrifying interview (3 parts) on Bloomberg:



    And finally, for your viewing pleasure, on the eve of two of the worst market crashes in history, let’s go back 80 years with two series of documentaries to see how the market destroyed so many lives then and how close the similarities are to our current time …

    1929 – The Great Wall Street Crash & Great Depression: Part 1 of 6

    1929 – The Great Wall Street Crash & Great Depression: Part 2 of 6

    1929 – The Great Wall Street Crash & Great Depression: Part 3 of 6

    1929 – The Great Wall Street Crash & Great Depression: Part 4 of 6

    1929 – The Great Wall Street Crash & Great Depression: Part 5 of 6

    1929 – The Great Wall Street Crash & Great Depression: Part 6 of 6

    Here’s the other series on the same subject:

    1929 Stock Market Crash Part 1 of 5

    1929 Stock Market Crash Part 2 of 5

    1929 Stock Market Crash Part 3 of 5

    1929 Stock Market Crash Part 4 of 5

    1929 Stock Market Crash Part 5 of 5

    So that you don’t leave my blog uninspired and unmotivated, take this last video with you … if anyone knows the value of failure, I do and I can appreciate this message. Have a great day!!

    [Conrad Alvin Lim]

    I Want to Trade Like This Guy Shoots

    July 29th, 2009 No comments

    Categories: Miscellaneous Tags:

    Investing Stock Market – Sooner Rather Than Later

    June 13th, 2009 No comments

    Investing Stock Market – Sooner Rather Than Later

    You enter a trade. It goes well for the first few moments. Then without warning, it turns and goes the wrong way! Horror of horrors! Now in the heat of the moment, you battle your wits for the best decision to make as the trade gets worse … cut now? … or wait a while more?

    The same thing happened last month. You decided to cut your losses fast. And as soon as you did, the trade turned around and went on to be a big winner had you not cut and run.

    • “Why didn’t you wait?”
    • “Why were you so hasty?”

    Then last week, the same thing happened again and being smarter, you decided to hold out. The trade continued losing. The longer you held it, the more you lost. But you knew then that as soon as you cut your loss, it would have turned around. So you held on and the losses kept mounting.

    • “Why didn’t I cut sooner?”
    • “Why did I hold on for so long?”

    By the time you made that cut, the loss was insurmountable.  And the trade turned around right after the cut.

    Let’s resign ourselves to one fact;

    Whatever the decision, it will always be the wrong one.

    So a simple lesson in this is that if we are going to make a decision, it WILL always be the wrong one. Cutting losses fast will return the trade. Cutting too late will continue the trend. What ever you decide, the market is going to take the mickey out of you.

    So to overcome this dilemma, ask yourself a simple question:

    Investing Stock Market ….. Is it better to make the wrong decision sooner or later?”

    The answer is obvious, isn’t it? I don’t know why anyone, in their right mind, would want to prolong an agony. If any decision you make is going to be the wrong one, then get it over and done with it quickly. Here’s another line of investing stock market logic  …

    You know that the moment you cut, the trade will return. So why don’t you cut it quickly and be ready for another entry as soon as the trade returns? (okay, that is speculative … but it works for the psychology!) At least it is obviously better than running the losses deeper.

    Likewise, you know that you are always going to take profit too early. So what can you do? Answer: Make the wrong decision early because making it too late will surely eat away your profits or could even end up with profits becoming losses.

    But in profit taking, you do have the advantage of taking some profit and leaving some to be greedy. It is always a good way to manage your profits. Take it when you have it but do it in stages.

    For example, if you have 10 lots long and they’re making some money, take half off the table when you reach your time/profit target. Let the remaining five lots run. The worst that can happen now is you can still get out at break-even if the trade turns against you.

    If the 5 remaining lots continue the profitable trend, when the trade hits a resistance, or if it stalls, take three more lots of the table and see what happens to the last two. At this point in time, you’ll have no fear and nothing but greed to manage. Should the remaining two lots reverse, your worst case scenario is that you can still get out at breakeven on those two lots and still get to keep the profits of the first eight lots.

    In a best case scenario, you are now in a position to put on a trailing stop and let the profits of the last two run to the sky.

    So avoid procrastinating on your trading decision. Make it quick, make it sensible and make it happen … make it sooner and never later.

    Moral of the story is that in Trading (investing stock market), it is NOT “better late than never” because in Trading, late is as good as never.

    [posted by Conrad]

    Online Stock Option Trading, Online Forex Trading, Online Commodity Trading

    May 20th, 2009 No comments

    online-stock-tradingPink Quote , informally known as the Pink Sheets , is an electronic quotation system operated by Pink OTC Markets that displays quotes from broker-dealers for many over-the-counter securities. Market makers and other brokers can use Pink Quote to publish their bid and ask quotation prices. Starting in 1913, and prior to the creation of the electronic system in 2000, these quotes were printed on pink colored paper by the National Quotation Bureau. The term Pink Sheets is also used to refer to a market tier within the current Pink Quote system. 

    The Pink Sheets is not a stock exchange. To be quoted in the Pink Sheets, companies do not need to fulfill any requirements (e.g. filing financial statements with the SEC). With the exception of foreign issuers, mostly represented by ADRs, the companies quoted in the Pink Sheets tend to be closely held, extremely small, or thinly traded. Most do not meet the minimum U.S. listing requirements for trading on a stock exchange such as the New York Stock Exchange. Many of these companies do not file periodic reports or audited financial statements with the SEC, making it very difficult for investors to find reliable, unbiased information about those companies.

    For these reasons the SEC views companies listed on Pink Sheets as “among the most risky investments” and advises potential investors to heavily research the companies in which they plan to invest.

    Buying Pink Sheets shares is supposed to be difficult. Broker-dealers are enjoined to weed-out unsophisticated investors who may get an e-mail or word-of-mouth tip about a small stock. Many Pink Sheets stocks may only be registered for sale in one state so that the only way to purchase the stock is to make a DRIP/business/unsolicited/accredited or other sophisticated form of investment. Many registered representatives do not even know how or if they can sell them. 

     

    OTCQX market tier

    OTCQX is a premium market tier offered by Pink OTC Markets that aims to raise the visibility of OTC-traded companies that, although not traded on a stock exchange, have operating businesses and provide substantial disclosure to the marketplace. The Pink Sheets has provided online stock tracking for many companies in its long history of online stock trading . Similar to companies quoted on the Pink Sheets, OTCQX companies are not required to be fully SEC reporting companies (i.e. current with all SEC filings). Despite this, OTCQX companies must provide audited financials and certain disclosures to Pink OTC Markets.

    OTCQX has two subcategories, PremierQX , the highest tier, and PrimeQX for companies that are too small for PremierQX, but otherwise meet the reporting requirements. The two categories are further differentiated into International and Domestic (US) companies.

     

    Pink Sheets market tier

    Effective August 1 , 2007, all Pink Sheets traded companies that are not able or willing to meet the standards of OTCQX will be placed in one of the following disclosure categories: Current Information, Limited Information or No Information. This categorization system was designed to increase the amount of information available in all Pink Sheets traded companies. However, these disclosure categories do not signify issuer quality or merit of any security. Categorization is based on the level and timeliness of a company’s disclosure and any category can include speculative, distressed, or questionable companies. Investors are encouraged to use caution when considering these companies for investment.

     

    Current Information

    Indicates reporting companies that submit filings to regulators with powers of review and that make the filings publicly available or non-reporting companies that make current information publicly available on the Pink Sheets News Service. The Current Information category is based on the level of disclosure and is not a designation of quality or investment risk. This category includes shell companies or development stage companies with little or no operations as well as companies without audited financial statements and as such should be considered extremely speculative by investors.

     

    Limited Information

    Is designed for companies with financial reporting problems, economic distress, or in bankruptcy to make the limited information they have publicly available. The Limited Information category also includes companies that may not be troubled, but are unwilling to meet Pink Sheets’ Guidelines for Providing Adequate Current Information. Companies in this category have limited financial information not older than six months available on the Pink Sheets News Service or have made a filing on the SEC’s EDGAR system in the previous six months.

     

    No Information

    Indicates companies that are not able or willing to provide disclosure to the public markets – either to a regulator, a stock exchange or Pink Sheets. Companies in this category do not make Current Information available via Pink Sheets News Service, or if they do, the available information is older than six months. This category includes defunct companies that have ceased operations as well as ‘dark’ companies with questionable management and market disclosure practices. Publicly traded companies that are not willing to provide information to investors should be treated with suspicion and their securities should be considered highly risky.

     

    Caveat Emptor – Buyer Beware

    There is a public interest concern associated with the company. This may include a spam campaign, stock promotion or known investigation of fraudulent activity committed by the company or insiders. During a spam campaign, any stock that is not in the Current Information category will also have its quotes blocked on pinksheets.com.

     

    OTCBB 

    The OTC Bulletin Board (OTCBB) is a listing of securities similar to the Pink Sheets, but operated independently. Many OTCBB companies are also listed on the Pink Sheets.

     

    Grey Market

    Securities that are not listed on any stock exchange, the OTCBB, or the Pink Sheets are considered to be in the Grey Market. Transactions are processed independently and not centrally listed or quoted. Trades are reported to a Self Regulatory Organization (SRO) who then passes the data on to market data companies.

     

     

                                  

     

     

     

    Commodity Trading

    commodity-trading

    Online commodity trading transactions on the commodity exchanges fall into two broad categories: cash contracts and futures contracts. Accordingly, the commodity exchange may be a cash market or a futures market, or may combine both. The cash contracts for the purchase of commodities are those which call for payment of the full contract price, in cash, on delivery. Such contracts are also referred to as physical contracts, in the sense that they deal in actual or physical products. The cash or physical contracts may be sub-divided into two sub-classes: spot contracts and forward contracts.

    Spot transactions are those cash contracts which involve the payment by the buyer and the delivery of the specified grade of goods by the seller immediately, or within a short time. These contracts relate to the purchase or sale of commodities on the spot. The essence of such contracts is the ready delivery and acceptance of the delivery of the goods sold. Forward dealings are those cash contracts made in the cash or physical market, which call for the delivery of goods and payment of the price after a specified period, on a fixed date.

    As against cash contracts, which require the payment or cash against the physical delivery of goods immediately on the spot or after a specified period, a futures contract is a special type of agreement made strictly under the rules of a commodity exchange, which may or may not call for the actual delivery of goods and payment of price in cash on a future trade.

    A future contract can be defined as a contract for the future delivery of some commodity without reference to specific lots, made under the rules of some commercial body, in a set form, by which the conditions as to unit of amount, the quality and time of delivery are stereotyped and only the determination of the total amounts and the price is left open to the contracting parties. 

     

     

     

    Option Trading

    By Rob Forbes

    option-tradingAs the markets have crashed in every possible way in the last month, everyone has got burnt. Stocks have crashed by 40% on average, which means that lots of people got hit by more than 40%. Stock portfolios, retirement funds, mortgages all look disastrous, and no-one wants to hear “buy and hold” anymore. Overall trust in investing and the stock market is at an all time low.  Every investing strategy looks bad.  Or does it?

    Options trading is a strategy that is not dependent on the market direction, and in fact does better in volatile markets. That is what makes now the best time to trade options.   So, why would you trade options?

    Options trading does not need to be risky or a gamble. It is true that there are some people who do gamble with options, but they quickly lose their shirts and leave the field. Options trading gives you a wide range of strategies that have varieties of profit and risk potential. In fact, many strategies are significantly less risky than “buy-and-hold”, and most are significantly more profitable than just about any stock trading strategy that you can name.

    When trading options, most of your portfolio is in cash for most of the time. In fact, even when you are actively trading, you can still have your whole portfolio in cash!

    When trading options, your trades are by definition short term, and you do not need to hang around for months and months to see whether you make a profit or not.

    Options work in ANY market – up, down, or stagnant.

    Which strategies are best to use during a recession?

    Despite the massive leverage and profit potential of buying and selling calls and puts, it can look too much like gambling. In fact, if you don’t have a watertight strategy, it can be extremely risky. That is why it better to look at other possibilities.

    Selling credit spreads. This strategy can bring in 15-20% profit on your portfolio per month, with no cash outlay, although you do need to put up margin. You can start with $1,000, and the only technical knowledge that you need is to be able to run a simple trend analysis. No trade lasts longer than a month, and you have an 80% or better chance of winning your trade.

    Selling naked puts. You effectively get paid to buy your favorite stock, or in other words, you can buy stocks at greatly discounted prices. Or you can treat them like credit spreads, and run trades every month in an upwardly trending market.

    Selling covered calls. If you own a stock, you can sell a covered call on it every month. In a downward trending market, this helps you recoup your losses. In a stagnant market, it helps you reduce the net cost of your stock.  In an upward trending market, you can lock in your profits on a stock and move on.

    These are all very low risk strategies, that can easily bring in a monthly income of at least 10-15% on your portfolio. You will not need to be glued to a computer screen day after day, and all three of these strategies can be accomplished with less than one hour per month in front of your computer. Each of these strategies takes advantage of time decay, the concept by which options lose value very quickly as their expiration date approaches.

    There are other strategies such as Iron Condors, Straddles, Strangles and so on, which can be very effective, but none are as reliable nor as safe as these other three. In addition, they often incur higher brokerage fees.

    Strategies such as DITM (Deep-in-the-Money) options trading can be useful if you favor a swing trading type stock strategy. You effectively buy stocks at about half price. Buying and selling calls and puts is hugely profitable, but highly risky. Both of these strategies are very susceptible to the effect of time decay.

    An option is simply granting someone the right to buy or sell something in the future. In the case of Dow index futures options, when someone buys a Dow call option they are buying the right to purchase that underlying Dow future at a specific price, known as the “strike price,” at a future point in time, known as the “expiration date.” When an investor buys a put, they are essentially selling the market; a call essentially buys the market. Likewise, selling a put essentially buys the market; selling a call essentially sells the market.

     

     

    Oil Future

    oil-futureWith well over a century of steady usage of crude oil, it is fairly easy to predict some of the recurring trends in the rise and fall of crude oil future prices. What we have to do is simply employ the old rule of thumb that tells us there is nothing new under the sum and then apply that to projections on crude oil production and consumption. Here are some examples of changes that we can anticipate to occur right on schedule.

    As the nation emerges from cold weather and reaches toward the summer months, more of us will be thinking about vacations to far away places, and maybe even some short trips to the beach if we live within a reasonable distance to the coastline. Past experience teaches us that we can expect an increase in crude oil future prices around the time that people begin to get serious about some holiday traveling. Everything from gasoline to airfare will increase around this time. At times, the increase is attributed to slow production due to some production facilities being understaffed, while at other times there is speculation about crude oil being hoarded by the this nation or that. Regardless of the reason, there is always at least once factor that leads to an increase in prices as the weather begins to warm. 

    Just as predictably, any occurrence of natural disasters during the summer months will bring about increase in petroleum prices. Tornadoes and hurricanes that impact the production ability of offshore rigs and onshore processing plants will surely result in prices going up, even if people are not really in a good position to handle the increase. Keep your bicycle tires pumped up just in case.

    As we begin to go into the autumn of the year, we will see crude oil future prices begin to level off and perhaps even dip a bit. It is usually not a god idea to get too excited with any significant change we see, as it will most likely be short lived. From the decrease, we can expect a small rebound to a slightly higher price, which will most likely be fairly constant for the winter months, barring any type of major problem somewhere in the world.

    Predicting crude oil future prices based on past experience is a fairly reliable way for the consumer to plan for any upcoming changes that may have to be made in order to accommodate the shift in pricing. Make sure you watch the current status of the prices, and let history be your guide in planning your upcoming budget. 

     

    Types of Day Traders

    There are two major types of day traders: institutional and retail.

    An institutional day trader is a trader who works for financial institution. This type of trader has certain advantages over retail traders as he/she generally has access to more resources, tools, equipment, large amounts of capital and leverage, large availability of fresh fund inflows to trade continuously on the markets, dedicated and direct lines to data centers and exchanges, expensive and high-end trading and analytical software, support teams to help, and more. All these advantages give them certain edges over retail day traders.

    A retail day trader is a trader who works for himself, or in partnership with a few other traders. A retail trader generally trades with his own capital, though he may also trade with other people’s money. Law has restricted the amount of other people’s money a retail trader can manage. In the United States, day traders may not advertise as advisors or financial managers. Although not required, nearly all retail day traders use direct access brokers as they offer the fastest order entry and to the exchanges, as well as superior software trading platforms.

    In the past, most day traders were institutional traders due to the huge advantages they had over retail traders. However, since the technology boom in the second half of the 1990s, advances in personal computing and communications technology, realized in the accessibility of powerful personal computers and the Internet, have brought fast online trading and powerful market analytical tools to the mainstream. Low, affordable commissions from discount brokers as well as regulation improvements in favor of retail traders have also helped level the trading playing field, making success as a retail trader a possibility for many and a reality for some.

     

    E-Mini S&P, often abbreviated to “E-mini” and designated by the commodity ticker symbol ES, is a stock market index futures contract traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange‘s Globex electronic trading platform. The notional value of one contract is US$50 times the value of the S&P 500 stock index.

    It was introduced by the CME in 1998 after the value of the existing S&P contract (then valued at $500 times the index, or over $500,000 at the time) became too large for many small traders. The E-Mini quickly became the most popular equity index futures contract in the world. The original (“big”) S&P contract was subsequently split 2:1, bringing it to $250 times the index. Hedge funds often prefer trading the E-Mini over the big S&P since the latter still uses the open outcry pit trading method, with its inherent delays, versus the all-electronic Globex system. The current average daily implied volume for the E-mini is over $140 billion, far exceeding the combined traded dollar volume of the underlying 500 stocks.

    Following the success of this product, the exchange introduced the E-mini NASDAQ-100 contract, at one fifth of the original NASDAQ-100 index based contract, and many other “mini” products geared primarily towards small speculators, as opposed to large hedgers.

    In June 2005 the exchange introduced a yet smaller product based on the S&P, with the underlying asset being 100 shares of the highly-popular SPDR Exchange-traded fund. However, due to the different regulatory requirements, the performance bond (or “margin“) required for one such contract is almost as high as that for the five times larger E-Mini contract. The product never became popular, with daily volumes rarely exceeding 10 contracts a day.

    The E-Mini contract trades 23.5 hours a day, five days a week, on the March quarterly expiration cycle.

     

    Stock Analysis Software

    Stock analysis software works a lot like technical analysis software, it’s a program that helps you manage and control your money that you have invested in stock. There are many different kinds of stock analysis software out there and some can cost your thousands of dollars. You have to find a happy medium with the stock analysis software you choose can do the job you need it to and what your wallet can handle as well.

    Once you have picked the right stock analysis software, its then time to know what exactly you are doing when using stock analysis software. Here are some different ways to navigate you through using stock analysis software.

    Fundamental Analysis of Stocks, which is when the investors analyze stocks when considering the financial information of the companies that are releasing stocks. The most common form of Fundamental Analysis of Stocks found in stock analysis software is the CANSLIM method. The CANSLIM method is defined as the analyizing of stocks by looking into the companies that offer high buying demand and above average growth in earnings.

    Technical Analysis of Stocks within the Stock Market, which is when investors study price activity of the stock market by way of using the quantitative techniques and also a variety of charts (line, bar, candlestick, etc.). The main purpose behind this technique is to predict overall price trends. This is the most used and most popular technique that stock analysis software has to offer, especially in this economy.

    Up next is Index Method, which is when investors increase the value of their portfolios by create diverse investment plans of action as investment portfolios are weighted by the market capitalization. This form of stock analysis software, the investor finds ways to lower the risk of taxes, maximizing the trend of the general stock market, and also makes “outside the box” investment.

    All this complex information may make a first time or novice investor a little wary. But that’s what stock analysis software is all about. Stock analysis software is very user friendly. The form of stock analysis software below may be the best for rookie investors.

    Online stock market analysis, a very new age stock analysis software, will help to do the research and in turn helps stock decisions in an easy to follow and also logical manner. If an investor has always been confused by how to select certain stocks, understanding stock options, and also other securities, they you might not be doing the correct amount of analysis of the portfolio and overall average market trends. By doing analysis on the stock market, the businesses you have invested into, and also your stocks will be able to help determine whether it is time to buy, to sell, or hold it down.

    In closing, here are some helpful tips when investing and using stock analysis software:

     

    -Perform an in depth research companies and businesses before you buy into their stock,

     

    - Be very careful where you get your advice, there are many people online that don’t know any more than you do.

     

    -   Buy into companies and businesses that you trust, go with your first gut instinct

     

    Stock Market Report … Trading low priced stocks from home

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    The problem is that if you don’t know what stocks to look for and how to approach them while limiting your risk, you won’t even get close to making some profits.

    You don’t necessarily have to trade low priced hot stocks all the time. But you can learn how to take advantage of them when you encounter the best opportunities while at the same time limiting your risk.

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    Just picture your self waking up EVERY morning fresh and confident knowing you can identify, validate and take advantage of great momentum trading opportunities that are capable of generating you very profitable results. 

     

    Online Forex Trading

    Online Forex Trading brokers are considered to be the middle man of the trading game. They are the ones who provide you with crucial information on you current line of business. You may have spent some quality time with your own forex trading business but the expertise that these professionals can provide you with is still exceptional. This is because they have everything that is necessary for your business to get boosted. They have the technical expertise, the forex acumen, and the networks to move around the forex market.

    Here are some useful tips you can use to find forex trading brokers

    Look online – These days, the foreign currency trading game has seen a lot of growth in the internet sector. Most people have discovered how transactions can be done much faster if its made through the internet. Just the same, expect forex brokers to ride on this promising bandwagon. Those considered to be experts in the said field would have taken advantage of the internet to promote themselves and their services in the form of blogs or online columns. The internet also allows you to make quick comparisons among different forex brokers.

    Ask for references – Getting a forex broker is almost the same as finding an applicant to fit in a job you need to get accomplished. Credentials are crucial and you also need to have a way to assess if the person you are considering for the said work can indeed deliver some good results. The best way for you to be able to do that is to talk to their previous clients. Get in touch with their existing or past customers so you can have a clearer view and perspective on how it might be like to work with them. This is also a good way for you to identify if they have a clean record in conducting business transactions.

    Get in touch with regulatory agencies – The forex market has plenty of government and non-government agencies which have their own policies that help develop and continue to sustain the market scene. The best you can do is to primarily coordinate with these people since they may have forex broker organizations wherein you can tap your possible forex partners. This helps ease up your background research process because the people you will get from these agencies are most probably certified to have clear professional records.

    Trading platform to be used - You should also check out what type of trading platform is being used by the forex broker you wish to hire. The two most popular versions these days are the downloadable software and the web based application. If the forex broker uses a specific software, you should care to ask its specifics especially if you use one yourself. This will help smoothen out compatibility issues and make information dissemination much easier for both of you. Web based application are usually open source programs that are accessible when you go online. Forex trading brokers who use these might be able to give you better rate deals because most of these open source programs are free.

    Automated forex trading is defined as the ability to trade forex with the help of a trading program or solution. Automated forex trading is done using robots which are created by high-level developers. Automated forex trading is one of the way to leverage due to. Automated forex trading is another option for many forex traders.

    Forex markets provide multiple opportunities to trade and profit within a 24 hour period. Forex trading tools that deliver fast and accurate data in a timely manner is the key ingredient to trading success. Forex trading online can be challenge without the right tools that guide you to the right way. Forex forecasting is the key to profitable trade – Forex forecasting helps a trader predict price movements in the highly volatile forex market. Forex trading can be done at your convenience.

    Trading this way is easily the fastest way to turn a profit but in the past, traders relied on a great deal of guesswork before algorithms, making trading much more risk prone without it.

    Automated Forex trading is one of the leading methods of making money online, that is, if you have the best programs at your disposal and the right information, of course. Automated forex trading will allow foreign currency traders to be able to trade in real time. Automated trading makes possible for you to trade in different markets, and also in diverse time zones. Automated trading software allows you to cancel all open orders and flatten all positions automatically at the end of the day. Automated forex trading is done using robots which are created by high-level developers. Automated forex trading really favors day trading and swing trading as profiting from these trading styles require fast trading. Automated FOREX trading is exactly what it sounds like.

    Online forex trading allows you to trade at your convenience – There was a time when forex trading was limited to banks and large financial institutions. Online Forex brokers will come with various trading platform software as well as tools to make trading easier on you. Online trading is not difficult to learn, the fact is when one using the foreign currency software, to trade online it becomes so easy. Online Forex Trading is Quickly Becoming a Booming Business Online Forex trading is more popular now that most everyone has access to a computer and internet. Online trading is the easy way to buy and sell shares from the comfort of your home.

    Foreign Currency Trading is the world’s largest enterprise and the rise of the Internet allows anyone to trade and the rewards are great, but 95% of traders lose and in most cases is because they do not understand the facts closed . Foreign exchange market operates 24 hours a day seven days a week.

    Making Money On Forex Online Without Bank Wires Online has become a meeting place for most advantageous financial and Internet technologies. Making money from money you’ve already earned from your investments is known as ‘compounding interest’.

     

    Automated FOREX trading is exactly what it sounds like. Automated forex trading is a relatively new concept that is rapidly growing in popularity among retail forex traders. Automated Forex Trading is an option to be availed by an investor in the international currency market. Automated Forex trading is where some or all of your Forex trades are decided by a computer program. 

     

    Online Forex Trading Profits

    Online Forex Trading is the short form for foreign exchange and makes up an exciting line of work that is increasing in fame. In foreign exchange, one currency of a nation is traded for another. The foreign exchange market place is one of the largest markets because foreign exchange transactions happen between big banks, central banks, government agencies, multinational corporations etcetera.

    On an average, transactions of the volume of US $2 trillion take place globally day-after-day.

    In addition to that the transaction volume in the derivatives market is 1.26 trillion, day-by-day. That shows the size of the market place and the potentiality it has for the players involved. Though retail traders who take part through brokers and banks form a small fraction of the total participants the Forex market holds a high potential of profit for the participants.


    Online Forex Trading Videos

    A Forex video training course is one of the most effective learning tools for enabling students to master the art of trading. As opposed to live seminars which are also more expensive, Forex training videos can be viewed at any convenient time and replayed again and again. There may be sections that warrant repeated viewing while other sections can be viewed briefly or skipped. The video format for learning has proven to be extremely effective for learning trading principles quickly.

     

    Should You Learn Trading?

    Learning Online Forex Trading is not that hard in that there are a lot of systematic courses conducted by many institutes/universities all over the world. When an entrepreneur commits to learn trading, she will be mainly exposed to two types of analysis. One is technical analysis and another is fundamental analysis.

     

    Technical Analysis

    Technical analysis is the market-generated data utilized for forecasting price movements. Tools like price charts and graphs are being used to illustrate the concept. The forecasting is based on three postulates viz., the market data contains all the fundamentals, volatility of the market and market sentiments. The possible market trends are up, down and sideways. More often than not the market moves in predictable patterns. The ultimate aim of technical analysis is to unravel this pattern basing upon the past trends.


    Fundamental Analysis

    Fundamental analysis assumes a country to be like company with economic reports that reveal the financial health of that countys currency. The value of a countrys currency depends upon the products and services it supplies to the international market. The more it supplies and is able to sell them the more of a demand is created for the currency because of its need by the purchasers of the product and services. Fundamental analysis takes into account the countrys potential to generate international trade. Fundamental analysis is found to be more effective when the learner uses the same judiciously. Learning the trade in these broad categories help the traders perform well in the market

    Forex trade holds high prospects for profit as well as the potential for loss depending upon the traders skill and understanding of the market. Learning Forex trade provides that knowledge which should be analytically used for achieving better performance. The trader who has a more thorough understanding of the market has a distinct advantage and greater likelihood of creating consistent profits. As with any business, education and training are the first step toward long term success.

     

     

     

     

     

    We can not control the directions of the wind, but maybe we can adjust our sails

    May 9th, 2009 No comments

    PERSONALITY TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR TRADES

    This is how you can improve your trades by identifying your personal traits that can either compromise or improve or trading results.

     

    1. Learn To Save

    stock-market-for-beginners

    The simple task of saving can be the difference between why a trader succeeds or fails. A saver represents a person with discipline and organization. It proves the ability to manage finances and control spending. Such traits are integral with trading habits and will stand the trader in good stead especially in trying times.

    Without this simple discipline, traders tend to over-trade. This usually leads to disorganization and poor financial management. More significantly, it proves that the trader’s intent will not be on trading to trade well but trade to make money. Already discussed how that is not a good mindset to start with. The inability to save translates into needing more money all the time and with this focus, greed will prevail.

    Assuming an average person makes S$3,000 a month, less Provident Fund deductions and insurance premiums, this average person should be taking home about S$2,000 every month. A savings habit of just 10% means that S$200 is put aside every month for a rainy day. At the end of one year, this translates into S$2,400 (without factoring in interest gains). This money is just nice to pay for one year’s income tax, property tax, road tax and other forced payments to maintain a decent lifestyle.

     

    So in essence, 10% is the minimum an average income earner should be looking at saving every month. The inability to save more than 10% a month means that this average worker will struggle until the time retirement comes knocking. And when it does come knocking, the struggles become worse.

    In trading, this is a trader who is Profitable with No Growth.

    Learn to save by spending less. Be prudent and frugal. Extravagance only serves to enhance your face and pride but does nothing for your real worth or your net worth.

    I’d rather appear to be poor and have lots of money in the bank than look rich with nothing to show for it.

     

    2. Trade What You Can Afford To Lose

    stock-market-chartIn a nutshell, never trade with your children’s trust fund. Such silliness puts a lot of stress on the trader because losing that money is not an option. Under such stress, the trade will not be in the right emotional state and is more likely to make bad decisions or the wrong decisions that will end up in losses.

    The losses will only serve to put more pressure on the trader as he tries to recoup his losses and take a revenge on the market. The losses will continue to mount.

    Stress is fear in trading. When one is full of fear, sound decisions and focus are blurred. In order to eliminate this fear, one must trade with money that can be lost. With this mindset, the trader will focus the objective on trading to trade well rather than not losing.

    In the first place, trading with your children’s trust fund is a sign of desperation. Trading with money you can’t afford to lose is a dire need for more cash. If you are in this position, don’t trade … you’ll be doing yourself a world of good by staying away from the market rather than think and hope that you’ll get a windfall

    If you can’t afford to trade, then don’t trade.

     

    3. Trade Comfortably

    stock-market-roller-coasterAll too often, traders believe that to achieve success as fast as possible, all they need to do is model what other successful traders have done and emulate their trading style. This couldn’t be farther from the truth.

    As in life, you must be comfortable with whatever you are doing. If something doesn’t suit you, you either not do anything or you find ways to adapt it to your needs and style. Emulating someone else’s trading style is definitely not the best way to trade. That style was created by someone else with a totally different mindset and skill set and is best suited to the creator of the style. You may not have the same tolerance, skill nor experience to trade like that. It simply amounts to not knowing what you’re doing and following blindly a style that you hope will work for you as it did for the person you are emulating.

    Question; have you noticed that when you emulate someone else, you are only emulating the winning technique and never the loser? So what will you do when something goes wrong?

    For some unexplainable reason, everyone wants to emulate the wins but ignores what the successful trader does when faced with a loss.

    Learn everything you need to know about trading and adopt your own trading style. When you have your own comfortable and personalized style of trading, you will find it much easier and less stressful to incorporate good habits and practice good financial management.

     

    4. Don’t Be A Clone

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    One of the most popular ways to learn to trade is to attend workshops. Such workshops usually have one guru who teaches you how he trades and shares his trading strategies and secrets. The common approach is to

    teach the students how to emulate his style and to follow his rules.

    The problem with that is no one is a clone. You cannot be expected to emulate. You can’t blame the guru for teaching as such because he only has three or four days in which to teach you something that took him years to master. Honestly, is that really possible?

    The best he can do is to show you how he does it and hope that you can do the same. The results are obvious. While only a handful of his graduates succeed, the rest will falter. The ones who do succeed, you will find, are the ones who can adapt and flex. They don’t become clones.

    The majority, sad to say, believe in cloning.

     

    5. Trade What You Know – And Stick To It!

    stock-marketAs a trader, the temptation to ditch a consistent and profitable trading style for one that seems better is always going to distract you. Remember that the grass is greener on the other side. But is it really?

    Why compromise a profitable style for something new when you are already consistent and profitable? The answer is Greed. Enough said.

    The bottom line is that you want to be a profitable trader. That does not mean that you should be the best and most profitable. You only have to be profitable and consistent and you would have achieved your objective. Staying patient and diligent will ensure that. Being unduly adventurous can be costly and sometimes very unrewarding.

    Trade what you know, stay consistent and stay focused. And stick to it to avoid getting tempted by greener grass.

    As the old saying goes … If it doesn’t broke, don’t fix it!

     

    6. Stay Current

    stock-market-watch-malaysia-1Books and workshops tend to use dated models. Today’s market is nothing like what it was 10 years ago or for that matter, a year ago. Information and technology is changing the way we do business with every passing minute.

    What we know as plastic credit cards will give way to mobile telecommunications being the next form of payment. Telcos of the future will become the next big financial institution. Cash will eventually give way to credit or debit systems and plastic cards will become tiny embedded chips that will fit into lifestyle products like watches, mobile comms and keys. Even keys may change.

    The way we work will change. The way we study and learn will change. The way we trade will surely change. The market as we know it is going through a change as I write this and who knows what the new economy will be like.

    Books and educational material will become dated quickly in this fast moving environment. Our job is to keep up with the latest and never fall behind for reading and believing obsolete material.

    Stay current, stay informed and always be on the cutting edge of your business.

     

    I read this without surprise few moments ago. (Taken from Yahoo! News)

    More struggling to pay credit card bills, personal loans on time

    SINGAPORE: More consumers in Singapore are struggling to pay their credit card bills and personal loans on time.

    According to data from the Credit Bureau Singapore (CBS), the percentage of consumers who missed at least one payment on their credit cards climbed from 1.45 per cent in September 2008 to 1.67 per cent in December 2008.

    A year back in December 2007, the delinquency rate stood at 1.48 per cent.

    However, CBS said these figures still remained well below the highs registered during the SARS downturn when the average delinquency rate was 2.6 per cent.

    Consumers in their thirties had a higher tendency to miss their credit card payments. In December, more than four in ten who were behind with their payments were aged between 30 and 39.

    The bureau said male consumers were also more likely to miss their credit payments. More than two—thirds of those who had delinquent accounts last December were males.

    CBS said more consumers with personal loans also started to fall into arrears on their loans in the final months of last year.

    The proportion of consumers that had delinquent personal loan accounts rose from 4.2 per cent in September 2008 to 5.3 per cent in December 2008.

    CBS executive director William Lim said the latest statistics showed that more consumers might be under stress from the impact of layoffs and the economic downturn. — 938LIVE/vm

     

    All these point to the obvious – that we are not yet at the bottom and it is going to be a while before we get back to normalcy. If this true, then those with day jobs without secondary incomes will suffer. Those who are living in denial that “it won’t happen to me” will hurt the worst. Those who believe in their comfort zones will soon find discomfort. Those who still have credit card debts that can’t be paid off with two months’ salary will find the going getting tougher. For more informations about credit cards, personal loan and debt solutions, you can obtain further details from this Best Credit Cards website.

    • Survival Tip #1 : Get real. Even when the market does recover, the economy will still be in pain for another 6 months to a year after.
    • Survival Tip #2 : Get a secondary income. Create a second income from simple ideas and common needs. Supply to the need and you have a second income. 

    Finally, get smart. Stop living in denial and stop dreaming. Wake up and smell the roses … they stink now because no one cares about watering their roses. Wake up and smell the coffee … it’s watered down now because kopi tiam owners are scrimping as coffee prices rise in a recession.

    Wake up and wake your friend up – shit is happening and if you still don’t smell it, you definitely smell it when it’s too late.